This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series, which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Charlotte Bobcats, who are unexpectedly awful this season (6-19) and feature Lance Stephenson who is currently the subject of numerous NBA trade rumors.

After the jump, I’ll look at Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Charlotte team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Spencer Percy at queencityhoops.com, as Spencer will answer Fo’ questions on his Hornets squad from us here at Philadunkia.

Unless you have fallen “off the grid” in the last 48 hours, you are aware that Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge listened to offers from a number of NBA teams for elite point guard Rajon Rondo.

It’s not official yet, but it is being reported that the front runner in these rumored talks, the Dallas Mavericks, have struck a deal for Rondo and willing send at least one future first-round pick; a 2nd round selection; Jameer Nelson and slowly developing power forward Brandan Wright to Beantown in exchange for #9.

Any way you slice it, Rondo leaving Boston is a good thing for the 76ers, and being traded out of the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference even, is a nice boost for the rebuilding process of the Sixers.

Nerlens Noel, PF29 MIN | 9-12 FG | 1-1 FT | 8 REB | 4 AST | 3 STL | 2 BLK | 3 TO | 19 PTS | -2Put asisde the near double-double that Noel posted on 75% shooting. What impressed me the most last night was that #4 was aggressive on offense and looked for his shot. Too many times early on this year Noel has caught the ball in decent position and has not even looked at the basket before passing the ball. Hopefully ast night is the start of a new trend on offense for Noel.

This Saturday edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews upcoming 76ers’ games – features tonight’s opponent, the Memphis Grizzlies, who defeated the Charlotte Hornets last night; have won 3 straight; 7 of their last 10 games and are currently in first place in the Western Conference.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Memphis team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague Chip Crain at 3 Shades of Blue.com, as Chip will answer Fo’ questions on his Grizzlies from us here at Philadunkia.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, PF29 MIN | 5-9 FG | 0-1 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 5 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 12 PTS | -20Luc recovered from a 1-4 start to post a decent game. He scored 7 points in the 2nd Q and had a tremendous block on Al Horford during that quarter. Still, I don’t understand how this guy is getting 30 mins. a night. He’s an average NBA player and is not part of the long range plan for this team. I’d rather see his minutes go to one of the young cats.

Nerlens Noel, PF34 MIN | 3-7 FG | 2-4 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 3 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | -13I have only a couple notes for Noel last night. In the 2nd Q he rejected DeMarre Carroll ‘s 5-footer and he scored with a nice lefty lay-in during the early 3rd Q. What has become painfully obvious to me and was very apparent on several Hawks’ posessions last night, is that outside of blocking shots, #4 is struggling to adjust to the NBA game on the defensive end.

Michael Carter-Williams, PG38 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 10 REB | 9 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 9 TO | 8 PTS | -15Yes, MCW posted yet another near triple double, but he also turned teh ball over 9 times. NINE! This franchise will never succeed (at any level) when it is being run by a PG who is that careless with the rock.

This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Atlanta Hawks who are a riding a hot streak right now having won 7 straight games, and 9 of their last 10. Still, I like the 76ers chances of stealing a win tonight for reasons that I will discuss after the jump.

(I can’t believe I just typed that line.)

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Atlanta team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague David Menze at Soaring Down South, as David will answer Fo’ questions on his Hawks squad from us here at Philadunkia.

Henry Sims, C25 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-3 FT | 6 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 10 PTS | +5Sims was solid last night, but when he scored a quick 5 points in the 1st Q I thought he was in for a big night. He hit a key bucket in the late 4th Q, but other then that it was quiet night for #35.

Michael Carter-Williams, PG43 MIN | 9-20 FG | 2-7 FT | 9 REB | 9 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 6 TO | 20 PTS | +14A near triple double for #1, who by the way is averaging a triple double over his last 3 games — 20; 10;10. Honestly it’s too bad his stroke is broken because last night he had some easy looks from three and just gave away points at the FT line. If he owned even just a decent jump shot he would have put up 30 last night.

As a reminder, this Philadunkia question and answer series is “loosely based” on ESPN.com’s highly successful, NBA related series of posts titled “5on5″. Our version of this genre of posts will ask 4 Philadunkia scribes to answer 4 topical, hot button questions about our Philadelphia 76ers.

Now you’re probably asking, “Why not simply stick with the “5on5″ format that ESPN.com uses?”

Well as any great hoops coach will tell you — playing 4on4 is the best way to truly learn the game of basketball.

In business, there is a concept called Fitness Landscape. The concept is derived from evolutionary theory and it is accepted and exercised widely in the business world.

Here how it goes: Imagine a system that we want to improved performance from. The system can be a biological species, a business system, or for the sake of our conversation an NBA team such as the 76ers. This system is located on a plain or a landscape that measures its performance. Any time the performance improves the system goes up to reach a peak. Anytime the performance drops, the system will go down into a valley.

This edition of “Fo’ with the Foes” – Philadunkia’s advanced scouting series which with the help of an accomplished journalist from around the NBA beat or blog world, previews key upcoming 76ers games – features tonight’s opponent, the Brooklyn Nets who have lost 6 of their last 7 and are 2-5 on the road this season, but boast a roster filled with veteran NBA players (Garnett, Johnson, D-Will, Lopez) who have simply killed the Sixers over the years.

After the jump, I’ll look a Fo’ key items for tonight’s game. Additionally, we’ll get a little more insight into this Nets team the Sixers face tonight from our colleague David Vertsberger at brooklynsfinestblog.com, as David will answer Fo’ questions on his Nets squad from us here at Philadunkia.